{"id":7308,"date":"2015-10-26T16:59:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-26T21:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/?p=7308"},"modified":"2021-08-16T22:03:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-17T03:03:22","slug":"you-have-very-youthful-gums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholehealthchicago.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/26\/you-have-very-youthful-gums","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou Have Very Youthful Gums\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Head tilted back, mouth stretched to the max to accommodate fingers, cotton, and something metallic and vaguely medieval, my plaque was sandblasted to smithereens. Dr Mintz peered inside, cocked an eye, and remarked, \u201cYou have very youthful gums.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I cannot deny my unalloyed pleasure on hearing this. I\u2019d been thinking about aging recently, recalling actress Bette Davis\u2019 warning \u201cOld age is not for sissies.\u201d I\u2019d noticed my eyes resembling the hound of the Baskervilles, spots on the back of my hands spreading like pond scum, and my muscles, deprived of their once-youthful supply of testosterone, simply unresponsive to endless reps on the Nautilus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I was pleased, really, with this compliment and answered an enthusiastic \u201cNeeennngowgggrrth,\u201d meaning, \u201cReally? Wow, great!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Mintz understood immediately \u201cYes, really. Good job.\u201d An experienced dentist can translate the stuffed-mouth garble of patients with the alacrity of a UN interpreter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMmmggghh. Aaahgg. Ghhrrgh.\u201d Enough. I\u2019ll simply translate myself directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to say to Dr Mintz, \u201cAnyone can do it\u201d
<\/strong>As a quick aside, though I\u2019m a physician and have seen just about everything over the years that might make a non-medical person recoil with dread, for me personally my toes curl in horror at the idea of gum scaling and its evil twin, root planing. Just the thought of anyone digging deeply around my teeth with a sharp object\u2026wait. I\u2019m pausing to recover before I continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Phillip Roth\u2019s 1995 novel Sabbath\u2019s Theatre<\/em><\/a> garnered generally positive reviews and ultimately won the National Book Award for Fiction, one critic (who actually did like the book) remarked that it contained something to offend just about everyone. I had no issues with the explicit sex scenes, misanthropy, perversions, and foul language. What was unforgettable to me is that one character was a periodontist and several paragraphs were (excruciatingly) devoted to the details of gum scraping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel drove my gum diligence to even higher levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now I\u2019m going to share with you how I\u2019ve kept my youthful gums. Even if you have some chronic gum disease, we\u2019ll talk about reversing it before someone\u2019s hand holding a sharp, dreaded G-11 pointed-tip scaler approaches your mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping your gums healthy: the prevention protocol<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

First, everything you already know. Stop smoking (does anyone still smoke?), for antioxidants eat fresh fruit and veggies, for omega-3s eat fish (or take fish oil capsules), for calcium eat dark green leafy veggies and dairy, and slash your intake of sugar and sugary foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also:<\/p>\n\n\n\n